Chicken fight

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Chicken fight, or shoulder wars, is a simple water game played in a pool or lake. One player sits on another’s shoulders (the person on top is the attacker, the bottom person is the vehicle). The goal is to knock down or push apart the other team with help from teammates. The top person may use any method to separate the opposing team, while the bottom person cannot use their arms and must rely on momentum. If a team is knocked down or separated, they lose and must drop out; the last team that stays together wins. Because of safety concerns, chicken fight is often banned in pools.

A similar land game in Japan is kibasen, or cavalry fight. In kibasen, a team of four works together with three carrying the fourth, who wears a bandana or hat. The team loses if they are knocked over or if the bandana/hat is removed. Some schools have stopped kibasen due to injury risk. In 2003, a high school student in Fukuoka became quadriplegic after falling from teammates’ shoulders during a game.